The MBTA’s board of administrators unanimously accepted the company’s $2.7 billion fiscal 2024 finances Thursday, a considerably elevated spending plan which acknowledges that revenues will likely be down whereas worker prices proceed to climb.
Next yr’s finances is available in at about 7%, or $174 million increased than this fiscal yr and the spending plan requires rising the T’s workforce from 6,679 workers to 7,743, an addition of 964 workers not included on this yr’s prices.
Most of these new hires and the mass of that new spending is security pushed, in keeping with MBTA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann O’Hara
“This budget is very different than the budgets we’ve done in the last three years. It’s unique from prior years just due to the historical investment of state resources into safety and training initiatives,” O’Hara advised the Board of Directors forward of their vote. “The FY2024 budget includes a major investment for safety and training which quadruples prior year efforts.”
More than half of each greenback spent over fiscal 2023’s finances is said to security, O’Hara stated, with a full $68 million value spent in response to a Federal Transit Administration’s Safety and Management Inspection report.
“This budget reflects a series of investments that sharpen our focus on enhancing safety for our customers, workforce, contractors, and vendors,” MBTA General Manager Phil Eng stated in a press release. “The T plays a vital role in connecting people to work, school, family, and friends, and I thank the Board of Directors for approving the FY24 budget. The priorities outlined here provide the means to make progress toward delivering the service our customers deserve and the level of safety – across the entire system – they expect.”
About $181 million will likely be spent on bridge rehabilitation, station and accessibility upgrades, and the design of the Red-Blue Connector challenge.
The finances additionally requires $5 million to review “means tested” fares, or revenue pushed pricing, with the purpose of increasing entry to public transit to low revenue riders.
“This budget strikes a balance between building critical staffing capacity around safety while maintaining our commitment to operating new and future services like the Green Line Extension and South Coast Rail,” Chief Administrative Officer David Panagore, stated after the board’s vote.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”